That day came. The wind picked up, and everyone muttered their relief that it had started. Interestingly enough, they’d all said they feared the wind, but now it was welcomed. As the raft increased in speed, it spun and blew every which way. Frank and Irving quickly dumped Otto into the waves. He disappeared in a blink of an eye. That was that.
Who was going to be next? Straws would have to be drawn soon, and they all knew it. No one spoke. No one looked at anyone. They were all alone, not only in the raft on an unforgiving sea, but alone in themselves for now. Days had passed since their last food intake.
~~ ~~ ~~
The slap in the face was not a welcoming feeling. Another slap on Frank’s leg was annoying, and the next one on his chest was infuriating. Despite his weakened condition, he bolted upright with his fist cocked and his right arm back behind his head ready to impart a mighty blow to whomever was hitting him. Once his eyes popped open, he leaned forward to get better leverage—and saw nothing.
The rest of the crew were sleeping and evidently much more in a weakened state than him. And then he saw the culprit, and joy screamed out of his mouth for the first time since the crash. “Holy God has answered us! Wake up, it’s feast time!”
Below him, flopping on the bottom of the raft, were three weird-looking fish with two large dorsal fins flailing about. The others stretched out from their nightly cocoons of misery and clearly weren’t privy to his scream of happiness until they, too, saw the fish. Helen grabbed the knife from the sock of a still-sleeping Irving and was about to stab each fish to kill them when Frank yelled, “No! If you miss, you’ll puncture the raft. Be cool.” He reached down to retrieve a piece of clothing, grabbed a fish, took the knife from her, and cut its head off.
He proceeded to do the same for the other ones when suddenly two more fish landed in the raft. The crew went crazy trying to catch them, to the point it became a game to corner them and give them to Frank.
Finally, there was some levity amongst the passengers as well as a camaraderie that had not been present since after Maxine and Otto had died. Frank handed the knife and then one fish one at a time to Irving, who gladly cleaned them. Nothing could have been more satisfying to the crew than the raw fish, something they would have never eaten had it been placed on their plates for dinner at home, but, being famished and so thoroughly hungry for anything other than human flesh, this made the raw, bloody fish taste like a delicacy.
As they ate, their lessons of the weeks at sea of never overindulging or binging was evident. Each ate tiny morsels of the flying fish that had been so kind to drop into their world of misery. They all took time to relish each bite and even waited after swallowing for a moment to savor the overall joy of fresh protein. Each one looked at the other, eyes met eyes, heads nodded in happiness, and they ate.
“So, we have feast of good fortune,” said Yuto. “We need thank God for our blessing.” He lowered his head and brought both hands up as if cradling an invisible gift and spoke as the others followed his lead. “Dear God, our heavenly Lord, we thank you for holy gift, gift that hopefully will help until you find right time see others find us. We were lost, but now you find us, and we here so grateful. In name your holy son, Jesus of Nazareth, thank you again. Amen.”
Mumbled ‘amens’ followed. All looked at each other, and smiles again appeared on everyone’s faces. These grins broke into raucous laughter after two more flying fish fell into the boat. Even Homer became lively and animated, expressing bliss that the others felt but a joy he said he had never known in his life.
No one had qualms about keeping some of the fish for a little later, so Irving did not clean them right away in an attempt to keep them fresh. He wrapped them in a canvas and tied a rope around it so they were safe from falling out and then stashed them away. No one seemed to feel anything but pride in their accomplishments at that moment.
More fish flew in the boat over the next few hours. No ceremony was necessary. Each fish caught was killed and wrapped with the others. The amount of these kamikaze fish was enough to keep their hunger satisfied for several more days and possibly for more than that if they were cautious. A calm came over the group. Everyone was silent, seemingly satiated and pleased at their victory.
Homer sat up a few hours later, and in a soft, discerning voice—not his usual snarling tone—said, “You know, I never was a good fisherman; in fact, my dad said, when it came to fishing, I was the ‘kiss of death.’ He always had great success fishing. He loved it. He would go anytime he could, but when I went with him something always happened, and he caught very few, if any fish. One time, he ended up accidentally throwing his new rod into the water when casting, another time the engine caught on fire, and the one time he did catch one, I knocked off the line with the net trying to bring it into the boat. But, Goddamn it, he would have been proud of me today.”
Homer then turned, laid down, and repositioned himself into a ball and pulled his covers over himself.
Quizzical looks appeared on the passengers’ faces, each turning to see the other’s reaction. A tiny smile appeared on everyone’s mouths, followed by a collective sigh.
Chapter Eighteen
With their bellies satisfied, the crew independently seemed to drift off into a safe and secure space, some just gazing at the sky and maybe envisioning some pleasant images. Homer seemed to have become mired in a trance as he had turned on his side and was staring at the bloody carcasses of the fish they had just eaten. His demeanor was not one of hunger or contentment but seemingly a disdain for the dead creatures below him. His eyes looked as though he was intently angry. Suddenly he snatched a fish up and threw it overboard, unbeknownst to the rest of his compatriots. Then again, he reached and snatched up another bloody body and flipped it over the side.
This time, Helen saw it and nudged Frank, silently notifying him of Homer’s actions, even though Frank had witnessed it for himself. Frank swung around as Homer threw a third fish overboard, and screamed, “Hey, what the hell are you doing? You’re throwing away our food, and those are bloody, damn it. Blood can be smelled for miles underwater by sharks. Stop it before we are inundated by them!”
Homer turned and stared at Frank as if he were an alien being. It was as if he could not detect or understand anything Frank was saying. Then he straightened up and responded in an unfamiliar, slow and calm tone of voice, “Yes…sir! Captain…Cannibal! I will…cease…and…desist. At…your…service, Captain.” He sluggishly turned away, sat, and pulled an old rag over his head.
Silence reigned on the raft. No one said a thing, but Frank’s alarming words were clearly understood by the rest, and they all looked over the sides for anything swimming nearby.
It didn’t take long, and Soo Mi pointed out to sea. She kept pointing, but no one except Frank seemed to see her. She was speechless for a time and then said, “There! They’re here!”
Everyone directed their attention to her side of the raft and followed her finger out to a point where two fins were identified swimming toward them. Homer never moved from underneath his cover.
“Okay, folks, let’s be cool. Get down as close as possible to the floor of the raft and don’t move, and above all, do not talk. We don’t want them to get any inkling there is dinner aboard this table,” Irving whispered.
They all did what he suggested. Only Frank and Irving kept their heads up just enough to keep tabs on the sharks.
The two fins became five fins in the blink of an eye. Frank thought better of telling the crew this fact. In their usual manner, the sharks circled out farther away from the boat and kept their distance as if to purposely check out this unknown beast floating in their waters that was related to blood and a possible delicious meal. The circling came closer, so close Frank could have touched one of their fins as it drifted past the side of the raft. Then another and another came by.
As he watched, suddenly on the other side, the raft lifted up a bit then flopped back into the water. A shark had tested the beast. Kimberly
almost choked on her attempt to not scream. A slight murmur of air being sucked into her frightened body could be heard. Frank looked over to her and gave her the okay sign with his thumb and index finger. Kimberly blinked her bulging eyes in response, but it was evident that she may not be able to control herself.
Then again, on Frank’s side, a shark lifted the raft. This time it was much higher, and when it finally let loose, the noise of the raft hitting the water was like a giant wave slapping against a rock. More guttural sounds came from Kimberly, Soo Mi, Homer, and then Helen. They tried their best to keep quiet, but it was becoming obvious the sharks were not just going to leave them alone like the last encounter.
At last, the raft remained relatively silent in the water. Frank peeked over the side in every direction, rapidly shifting his eyes from right to left and back. He nudged Irving to do the same on his side. Irving reported back by signing him with his hands.
“None seen,” Irving said.
Frank whispered, “Me neither.”
They both waited for a minute or so.
Nothing.
“They may have gone,” Frank said in a louder whisper.
Everyone stared at Frank as if they could not understand.
He repeated, “They may have gone. Be quiet and very still. Don’t move at all until we’re sure.”
There was an enormous, collective sigh of relief when they all seemed to relieve their bodies of the stress as they became more loose and relaxed.
With one gigantic rush of seawater over the side of the raft, a shark rammed the vessel, lifting it almost two to three feet. Screams and gasps could no longer be kept internalized. They were grabbing on to anything that seemed stable enough to prevent them from being propelled from their home. Bodies were being thrown around the floor of the raft, ricocheting off one another. And then another attack ninety degrees from the original hit, sending more bodies now elevated off the floor to land on each other.
“Everyone, lie flat down on the bottom of the raft to steady it, now!” Irving barked.
Every passenger did as they were told except Homer, who had stayed so still with a shirt over his head during it all. He finally reacted, threw off the covering, and screamed in a raspy, growling voice, “Face it, you bastards, we’re all going to die now. No one’s going to help us.” He stood teetering on his spindly legs set between the passengers on the bottom of the raft and stared aimlessly at everyone, eyes psychotically wide open.
Then another enormous attack broadside lifted the raft again. Homer screamed, flipped up and over the side, and was gone.
Frank and Irving were the first to notice. They innately searched the boat first and then the nearby ocean water. “Homer’s overboard. Anyone see him?” Frank asked.
All eyes aboard scanned around the raft, finally settling on an area of extreme bubbling and thrashing of fins and fleeting glimpses of shark bodies. In the middle of it welled up a mass of bright red blood, a lower leg and foot connected to a green sneaker. The spectacle continued to mesmerize the crew for two to three minutes of horror.
And then another silence—a silence that lasted for a long time until Kimberly spoke with a fearful, vibrating voice, “They’re gone, right? They…they got their meal, right? Right?”
Frank responded quickly, “It’s been ten or so minutes. I would have thought they would have been back sooner if they were to continue their barrage. Yes, I think they’re gone. Jesus, what the hell did he think he was doing?”
Yuto said, “He not thinking.”
He wasn’t thinking, all right. Homer had hit the wall. Everyone in this kind of situation does eventually, I guess. Hopefully, we will not have this happen again. If so, a lot more walls will be hit.
Chapter Nineteen
The next few days were uneventful. A routine had set in. The men separated from the women, the men on one side of the raft and the women on the other. It just happened that way. No one suggested it. It was a natural thing to happen in this type of grave situation. Even Yuto and Soo Mi had done so. Before, they were performing their duties without privacy, but with some food in their bodies, they had obviously begun to think more clearly and were now trying to return to being more civil. Each man took his turn eliminating himself as the others tried to block the view from the ladies and vice versa. Overall, it was silly to think complete privacy existed, but humans did have some innate sense of it even when conditions didn’t warrant it.
Some seemed to be responsible for ‘house’ cleaning chores while others remained vigil and stared out over the ocean for any signs of rescue. Every activity was exhausting, and a sleeping period for some appeared random, while the others maintained an inward clock that decided their sleeping habits. Those who slept seemed to wake on cue, allowing the others to slip off into their dreamlands. And so these routines rolled on just as the raft rolled to and fro, rocking its inhabitants gently. No one knew how long they had been lost except Frank, and he wasn’t going to remind them.
Usually, Yuto and Soo Mi tried to sleep and work together. It was obvious they were so in love, and it was this love that was keeping them sane. Helen and Kimberly were once a pair in everything they did, but recently, Kimberly had drifted away from everyone. Frank and Irving talked shop and discussed means of survival, but that was about it for their relationship.
One afternoon, Helen rose onto her knees and said, “We all have been together for a long time on this raft. I think we are all drifting away from one another into our own worlds, and I’m not sure this is a good thing. We have nothing to do on this godforsaken raft, so don’t you think we should start conversing with one another to keep our minds sharp and not focusing on our destiny?”
Soo Mi replied, “What should we do?”
“Let’s tell each other about ourselves from birth on. Tell us what you have done, what you will do, and what you want to do. Anything to keep us interested in something. It’s bound to get us talking and asking questions, conversing, don’t you think?” Helen said.
Everyone looked at each other, waiting for someone to answer ‘yea’ or ‘nay.’
Frank spoke up, “It certainly is better than wallowing in our own misery.”
“I’m in,” said Irving.
Then the rest shook their heads in agreement.
“I guess you the leader,” said Soo Mi to Helen.
“Okay, here goes. I was born in Intercourse, Pennsylvania.” Everyone started to snicker, and Helen broke into a laugh. “Well, I have never told anyone this until now, so I guess it was the best time to do it. I didn’t think I’d get that reception.”
The others continued to laugh and smile a bit.
I gotta admit it was funny to hear that word out here in the middle of nowhere.
“Anyway, I guess I had a normal childhood. Two brothers, one sister. She died falling from a tree house my dad had built. It wasn’t his fault. Annie was doing something stupid. Dad had put a lot of safety things around for us and taught us what to do and what not to do, but he never lived her death down. It haunted him forever. Mom brought us up and never did mention Annie. It was as if she’d never existed, and I guess that helped Mom through it all.
“I went away to college after high school. Never did come home much. Yeah, Christmas, I did, and on Thanksgiving a few times. Married this guy Rick, from Argentina. Met him at a party in a hair salon, dated him for a while, and we eloped my senior year. No kids.” She hesitated. “Yeah, no kids!
“Rick did his own thing, you know, but his mother got sick, and he moved her from Argentina to live with us. That was the beginning of the end of my life, I guess. Maria was so demanding, and Rick did everything she wanted, and then he expected me to do the same. I thought she was complaining just to get him to be with her and not me. I resented it. I went out on my own and opened up a flower shop. I had to. I just had to get away from her. Got pretty good at it, too. Made money, the shop grew.”
Helen shivered, and tears rolled from her eyes. She sniffled and wipe
d her nose and eyes with her wrinkled blouse. “Anyway, Rick soon hated me for resenting her, and you know that didn’t go well, that’s for sure. We’d scream and yell and then not speak for days, and all this time this woman was getting sicker and sicker, and I didn’t think she was sick. But she was. I’m so sorry I was a fool. I was into myself and nothing else, I guess. I had no Rick, no family of my own, and I guess I felt sorry for myself.”
Helen looked out over the ocean for a short time, wiped her nose again, and said, “Rick divorced me two years ago. He and Mama moved home, and she died a couple weeks ago. I was going to the funeral. No one wants me there, but I have to satisfy myself that I was the reason for so much strife and animosity and want so much to…have my own closure. And now I won’t get that chance, right? Not much else to say. That’s me in a nutshell.”
No one said anything. Frank put his arm around her shoulder trying to comfort her, but he knew it was just a kind gesture and nothing could change her feelings at this time.
She had to get this off her chest to someone, anyone, because those in Argentina will never know how she feels now.
After a while, Helen sat upright and said, “Okay, who’s next?”
Soo Mi asked, “If you mind… Why didn’t you have child?”
“I don’t know. Sex was a physical thing. I don’t think there was any love in it. I don’t know what Rick felt. He never said much. I don’t even know why I married him. Seemed to be the thing to do at the time, I guess.”
There was silence on the raft—not the type that they had become used to, the one in which they would fall asleep. It was a silence of wonderment that someone took this specific time to bear her life story to complete strangers in such a life-threatening situation. Each passenger clearly mulled her story over and over in their minds, maybe trying desperately to understand their own lives within her story. Had they made the same mistakes? Had they judged someone as cruelly as Helen had to the point her life was now consumed by it? Would they be doing what she set out to do? Those questions were haunting Frank, and if he could answer one, another popped up unanswered. It was mind boggling.
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